Controlled Diet Break
KMasz
Posts: 2,732 Member
I have been on MFP off and on since 2013. I am a 5’2”, 30 year old, female. Last March I (re)started my efforts at about 173 lbs with an ultimate goal of 115-120 lbs. From March until January, I had made decent progress with weight loss: about 18 lbs. However, my consistency was pretty spotty...
I have been very disciplined with weighing, measuring, and logging all my food and (calorie containing) drinks since January 1st; I average 1850 calories consumed daily. I use a Fitbit with a HRM to track my calories out; desk job from home, but I walk a lot, do yoga, do random darebee workouts, and beach body workouts. My TDEE is about 2385. I have lost another 14 lbs... currently weigh about 141 lbs.
So I have read up a bit on diet breaks and refeeds (Aka a google search, no real research papers or anything. https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break ... I read other articles too, but that one seemed to be the most comprehensive). I am planning on doing a 2 week, controlled diet break in a couple weeks. I think many of my past dieting efforts failed because I was trying to go too hard for too long. I also never practiced maintenance, so when I got close to goal and loosened up, I ate all the food and drank all the booze... and then gained all the weight.
I didn’t see too many guidelines on macros or workouts during the diet break in my reading just that one should consume a minimum of 120-150g carbs (no problem for me, I currently eat about 160g). I assume that as long as I am eating maintenance calories, my macros and workouts don’t really matter? The article also says that he reduces the maintenance calories by 5-10% which doesn’t make sense to me... isn’t the goal of a diet break to get out of a deficit and not to keep (even a small) one?
If anyone has any insight or experience with diet breaks they’d like to share, I’d appreciate it. Does it seem like I am missing anything or is it just as simple as I think?
I have been very disciplined with weighing, measuring, and logging all my food and (calorie containing) drinks since January 1st; I average 1850 calories consumed daily. I use a Fitbit with a HRM to track my calories out; desk job from home, but I walk a lot, do yoga, do random darebee workouts, and beach body workouts. My TDEE is about 2385. I have lost another 14 lbs... currently weigh about 141 lbs.
So I have read up a bit on diet breaks and refeeds (Aka a google search, no real research papers or anything. https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break ... I read other articles too, but that one seemed to be the most comprehensive). I am planning on doing a 2 week, controlled diet break in a couple weeks. I think many of my past dieting efforts failed because I was trying to go too hard for too long. I also never practiced maintenance, so when I got close to goal and loosened up, I ate all the food and drank all the booze... and then gained all the weight.
I didn’t see too many guidelines on macros or workouts during the diet break in my reading just that one should consume a minimum of 120-150g carbs (no problem for me, I currently eat about 160g). I assume that as long as I am eating maintenance calories, my macros and workouts don’t really matter? The article also says that he reduces the maintenance calories by 5-10% which doesn’t make sense to me... isn’t the goal of a diet break to get out of a deficit and not to keep (even a small) one?
If anyone has any insight or experience with diet breaks they’d like to share, I’d appreciate it. Does it seem like I am missing anything or is it just as simple as I think?
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Replies
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You sound like you have it all dialed in. FWIW, I like Lyle McDonald and consider him a good source. Macro's matter only to the extent you eat the minimum you need (~0.35g/lb body weight for fat, and protein minimum is less at maintenance than when in a deficit but you may have better satiety if you keep it in the ~.8g/lb body weight realm). You are exactly right - eating maintenance calories will result in maintaining, regardless of macros.
ETA: Kudos on your good work and perseverance so far. Good luck on the break. Hope you really enjoy it.2 -
Practice for when you reach maintenance! You've got it!1
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I also never practiced maintenance, so when I got close to goal and loosened up, I ate all the food and drank all the booze... and then gained all the weight.
Are there foods you are eliminating when you are trying to lose weight? Are you avoiding alcohol?
In addition to "practicing maintenance" as a calorie goal, you can practice everyday by incorporating foods you enjoy into your regular diet. Then, when you up your calorie goal, you can increase all foods proportionately.
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You sound like you have it all dialed in. FWIW, I like Lyle McDonald and consider him a good source. Macro's matter only to the extent you eat the minimum you need (~0.35g/lb body weight for fat, and protein minimum is less at maintenance than when in a deficit but you may have better satiety if you keep it in the ~.8g/lb body weight realm). You are exactly right - eating maintenance calories will result in maintaining, regardless of macros.
ETA: Kudos on your good work and perseverance so far. Good luck on the break. Hope you really enjoy it.
Thanks! & good to know! I have a couple of podcast interviews with Lyle saved to my watch list, but they’re each about an hour long, and just haven’t had time to watch them yet.
I am pretty consistent with eating my fat and protein minimums, I sometimes have “off” days (but don’t we all) but then eat over them other days, so it all balances out.concordancia wrote: »I also never practiced maintenance, so when I got close to goal and loosened up, I ate all the food and drank all the booze... and then gained all the weight.
Are there foods you are eliminating when you are trying to lose weight? Are you avoiding alcohol?
In addition to "practicing maintenance" as a calorie goal, you can practice everyday by incorporating foods you enjoy into your regular diet. Then, when you up your calorie goal, you can increase all foods proportionately.
Thanks! There’s nothing I really eliminate from my diet. I try to be varied and all inclusive! However, that is something I could keep an eye on, see if during my “break weeks” there is something I am more drawn to eating or tempted by just because I am on a “break”
For health reasons and satiety, I am limiting my alcohol and sweet treats. I usually allow myself one day per week to incorporate those things into my diet. Right now it’s pretty easy due to almost always being home and not eating out as much as I did pre-pandemic. As social events start back up, that will be something I will have to be mindful of, but that’s another hurdle/learning curve for another day!
In the past I don’t think my issue was trying to re-incorporate anything I had cut out, I think it was simply that when I got close to (what should have been) maintenance, I loosened up on my logging and let my calories get out of control.1 -
I suspect that you already know that there's a long thread here about refeeds and diet breaks, but in case not:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1
If you haven't seen it, I'm not sure it would have a lot of usefulness for you, since you've already done a lot of good research. However, there is a lot of experiential information shared on it that could potentially be interesting, maybe.4 -
I suspect that you already know that there's a long thread here about refeeds and diet breaks, but in case not:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1
If you haven't seen it, I'm not sure it would have a lot of usefulness for you, since you've already done a lot of good research. However, there is a lot of experiential information shared on it that could potentially be interesting, maybe.
Thank you! I’m not sure I’ve seen that thread yet, a different thread came up in my original search that was pretty much the same text as the link I referenced above. The video in that thread is on my “to watch” list, and based on some of the comments, it looks like that video may answer some of my macros questions.
Hopefully I will enjoy this diet break and it will be the first of many, so I guess I have time to figure out what will work best for me!
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I didn’t see too many guidelines on macros or workouts during the diet break in my reading just that one should consume a minimum of 120-150g carbs (no problem for me, I currently eat about 160g). I assume that as long as I am eating maintenance calories, my macros and workouts don’t really matter? The article also says that he reduces the maintenance calories by 5-10% which doesn’t make sense to me... isn’t the goal of a diet break to get out of a deficit and not to keep (even a small) one?
If I remember correctly, in one of Lyle's interviews he says the 5-10% off your original maintenance calories is to account for the fact that you've lost weight and thus your maintenance calories will be slightly lower now.
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frees1spirit wrote: »
I didn’t see too many guidelines on macros or workouts during the diet break in my reading just that one should consume a minimum of 120-150g carbs (no problem for me, I currently eat about 160g). I assume that as long as I am eating maintenance calories, my macros and workouts don’t really matter? The article also says that he reduces the maintenance calories by 5-10% which doesn’t make sense to me... isn’t the goal of a diet break to get out of a deficit and not to keep (even a small) one?
If I remember correctly, in one of Lyle's interviews he says the 5-10% off your original maintenance calories is to account for the fact that you've lost weight and thus your maintenance calories will be slightly lower now.
I guess the way I read it, and it may have been phrased a different way in another article, is that you estimate maintenance calories from your current body weight... not your starting. Unless he further reduces it to account for any adaptive thermogenesis that may have already taken place?
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Great topic for discussion here. Can I ask what effects a zig-zag approach could have?
For example my tdee is approximately 2600 and mfp gives me 1880 to lose 1lb per week or so. What would happen to the body if I ate 1880, 1880, 2400, 2500, 1880 1880, 2500 over the week?
I'd expect weight loss to take longer but I'm patient and understand that. Would there be any benefits?1 -
Great topic for discussion here. Can I ask what effects a zig-zag approach could have?
For example my tdee is approximately 2600 and mfp gives me 1880 to lose 1lb per week or so. What would happen to the body if I ate 1880, 1880, 2400, 2500, 1880 1880, 2500 over the week?
I'd expect weight loss to take longer but I'm patient and understand that. Would there be any benefits?
It can delay or prevent metabolic adaptation.
You can also just try to get an average of 1880 over a week, which is my approach. Less intentional but the effect is much the same. High days and low days, aiming for an overall deficit of 1750 below maintenance for the WEEK. So my calories over a week to maintain is 1900*7=13,300. So I aim for my weekly report to be 11,550. Some days I might eat 1300 calories, some days I might eat 2500, but it averages to about the .5lb of loss I'm set for, for the week.2 -
@wunderkindking yes that's a better approach. So if I knew I was going to have say 3000 on a Saturday I could go 1500 on the Friday after and 1200 on the Sunday or any other combination. Makes sense.1
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